When it comes to living our faith and imitating Jesus, there are a lot of things we can do on a day-to-day basis.

First, we can become more aware of the world around us. And then we can …

⇒ Pray for the pedestrians, bicyclists and motorcyclists we see as we drive around.

⇒ Beg for God to have mercy on all involved with the sirens we hear.

⇒ Pray for peace and calm to prevail when we see someone pulled over for a ticket.

⇒ Spiritually adopt children. We can say a quick prayer for a child we notice or we can remember and pray for them in an ongoing way, perhaps giving them a name to make it easier to do so. God will know who “Kaitlin” and “the pale boy” are when we pray for them.

⇒ Share our garden produce with others — those at work or with elderly or apartment-dwelling friends or with our busy neighbor who can’t keep up a garden.

⇒ Feed the birds. The Bible says that God provides them with their food. As His servants, we can help with that work, especially since so many acres have been plowed and paved and stripped of all the plants that would otherwise provide them with seeds and fruits.

⇒ Water the birds — we serve the Lord as we provide fresh water each day for His critters.

⇒ Plant flowers that nourish butterflies and bees, and maybe even a humming bird.

⇒ Pay attention to see if someone is following us through a door, and hold it for them with a smile.

⇒ Call someone we suspect might be down in the dumps, and just listen.

⇒ Support a struggling college student with a check or a box of goodies.

⇒ Contribute to a well-run national or international charitable agency to help refugees or others who are struggling to survive with dignity.

⇒ Volunteer at a local agency that serves the poor, the ill, the elderly or those in crisis.

⇒ Attend a weekday Mass and offer it up for someone in our families.

⇒ Etc., etc.

Second, in order to imitate Christ we also need to work on our selves. God will be more than happy to help us with this difficult-but-somehow-satisfying inner work.

The Gospels and the saints teach us that we can’t hold onto God if we are overly tied to anything or anyone else. And so, we must practice detachment in order to make more room in our hearts for God, with the goal of giving Him our whole heart.

We can begin by asking what besides God is important to us. It is easiest to start with physical things — perhaps a food, or a TV show, or whatever else God seems to point to. Say a prayer and pick one, and give it up for a month. If you still feel a strong desire for it, give it up for another month … continuing on until you can honestly say that it does not have a hold on you.

Then look around and see what else has a place in your heart — and practice stepping back from that as well.

Detaching from people does not mean abandoning our families and friends. It is a matter of turning them over to God who loves them better than we can. It also is a matter of putting God first, clinging to Him in our hearts, and learning to love others with His love. Again, God will help and, as with physical attachments, we’ll find we can love the world and each other with greater freedom and devotion as this process goes on.

Always, of course, there is more to be done — including giving God our plans, goals, hopes, dreams, fears, sorrows and such. God wants all of it. He wants all of us!

As we chip away at the inner and outer work of imitating Him, Jesus will walk with us — dwelling with all who devote themselves to that give-Him-everything goal.